Opera discontinues its mobile VPN app (updated)

Opera's free mobile VPN app wasn't long for this world, unfortunately. The browser maker has discontinued both its Android and iOS VPN clients after SurfEasy, the developer Opera had acquired in 2015, parted ways with the company. We've asked about the fate of desktop support, but it's safe to say this reduces your choices when you're accessing content from other countries or adding a degree of secrecy to your surfing. You're not out of luck if you want to use Opera VPN's underlying technology, though.

If you're an Opera Gold user, you'll have the option of a free one-year subscription to SurfEasy's Ultra VPN service. Everyone else, meanwhile, can use the Opera VPN app to subscribe to SurfEasy Total for 99 cents per month instead of the usual $5. That's less than ideal if you're used to paying zero, but look at it this way: if you still need a VPN client, you'll have an affordable service while you're considering your options.

Update: Opera responded that it plans to keep the VPN feature in its desktop browsers.